Tuesday, 13 November 2012

Yakety Yak by Ann Evans

'Thank you for the talk' cards from Year 2
Hearsall Primary.

I’d been trying to
think of what I could blog about this month, so going over in my head
what I’d been doing recently it dawned on me that rather than
doing lots of writing, I’ve actually been doing lots of
talking – lots and lots of talking in fact! To be fair though, I’ve
only been yattering away on the subject of books, writing, stories and the like, so it all counts as work, doesn’t it?

I’d been lucky
enough to get some school visits and some other book events which I
always enjoy. And as any writer who does author visits knows, the nicest thing is when you hear that the young people who you’ve been nattering on to have enjoyed it too. A lovely
collection of hand made thank-you cards along with the Year 2’s own
version of The Beast’s cover were presented to me after one visit
to a school very recently, which was just lovely and will certainly be kept and treasured.

Library talk on A Children's History of Coventry.

Then it was off to a couple of libraries for two more days of
talking to children from two primary schools and one senior school as part of The Warwickshire Festival of Fun with Words - and a lot of words certainly did seem to flow!

This was followed by another library talk on the subject of A Children’s History of Coventry where a number of the adults in the audience turned out to be newcomers to the city, so took the opportunity to ask lots of historical questions. Now, I don’t know about you, but once I've completed a book, I'll hang onto my written notes and research but usually press the ‘delete’ button in my head. However, I suddenly found myself reaching for the ‘recovery of data’ button amongst the old brain cells as I tried to furnish them with the historic facts they needed, which I hadn't bargained for!

Managed to talk my way through that and had some good comments from the audience when it all ended. With a sigh of relief I thanked them and tucked away those kings, queens, important dates
and knights of old back into the recesses of my mind, till the next
time.

A Saturday morning
workshop was next, and teaming up with author Karen King, this was
a double barrelled talk as we spent the evening before talking about
the workshop to come, then rattled out advice, tips and experiences
to the lovely people who came along on the day, and finally chatted non-stop all the way back to the railway station until Karen
was back on her train. Then just a few texts to wind down!

So time to do a bit of
writing now perhaps? Well not quite. Last Thursday evening I went
along to my library (again) for a speed dating style book event. No, I wasn’t touting for a new partner, the idea was that everyone
chatted about their particular favourite book to the person opposite for two minutes non-stop. The bell rang and then it was their turn to
tell you all about their favourite book.

The little side room at the
library had been transformed for intimate little tete-a-tetes, with
artificial but very effective tea lights on each table, wine and tasty nibbles.

I’d chosen Steven
King’s blockbuster, Under the Dome as the book I wanted to talk
about and during the evening discovered a couple of books that I really wanted to read, namely Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold and Fatherland by Robert
Harris. Two very different books but I’d heartily recommend them.

Fatherland is about…. No! Enough yakety-yaking. I am now going to shut
up and get some writing done!

How about you? Is your main topic of conversation all to do with writing or do you have a proper life?

really weird the way that delete button in the head works. It's totally on automatic. I don't WANT to forget all the research I've just done but away it goes. If it were just to a mental drop box facility that would be fine but appears to get stuffed away in the back of a damp dark cellar with mice nibbling at its edges and fungi sprouting where facts used to be.(I speak as someone who has to give a talk tomorrow night and can't remember a word ...)